In 1979 Nancy Holt was invited to develop a sculpture for the campus of Wellesley College in Massachusetts, for an exhibition titled Sitework on show between May and August 1980, curated by Judy Fox. Wild Spot is almost hidden in the landscape in what Holt described as a “natural cove.” It comprises a pair of nested steel-fencing rings. The outer one can be entered, while the inner circle, which cannot be entered, holds native wild flowers.

Throughout her five decades of artmaking, drawing was a fundamental part of Nancy Holt’s creative thinking. One of her most ambitious projects remains in suspension: Sky Mound, begun in 1984. Four miles from Manhattan, between the New Jersey Turnpike and the Amtrak railway, lies a massive landfill. Holt was recruited to design the reclamation of the site, which would both mitigate environmental damage and transform the landfill into a sculptural observatory.